Food and Fiber Friday - Quilting, Stockings, Canning and Pie

With everything going on in November, I didn't get as far as I wanted on having quilts finished up. But that's life! I'm not going to let it stress me out. 

But I did get 4 stockings made for Savvy and family. She only asked for one for Lord M, but I, the virgo I am, had to have them all match. Plus I got to use my Cricut (which I am slowly getting use to) to do the names to iron on the stockings. 

The stockings were mailed out on Saturday by Priority Mail, so she will have received them on Thursday hopefully.

Then there is the Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving I made.

One thing Savvy and I are trying to do is to cut out high fructose corn syrup from our diets. And while Karo Syrup isn't high fructose corn syrup, I wanted to see if there was an alternative. 

I found this recipe from 1914 on Tasting History. You are basically making almost a custard-like filling for the pie. Also, the recipe is not for a 10-inch and/or deep dish pie. If you do use those sizes, then you need to double the recipe. 

My opinion - pretty darn close. Not as quick and easy as the basic pecan pie recipe since you do have to stir and watch the mixture on the stove top before filling the pie shell, it's pretty darn close. And if you don't have Karo Syrup on hand, I think it is a suitable substitute. When I make it again, I will use a tart pan which is small to bake it in.

Also during the holidays I did a bit of canning.

From left to right, pineapple topping, cranberry juice and cranberry sauce.

I had some fresh pineapple I needed to do something with. I made pineapple topping. This reminds me of my paternal grandfather who would put it on vanilla ice cream. 

Then I tried my hands at canning some cranberry juice from fresh cranberries from the store. Two bags of cranberries gave me 1 quart and 1 pint of juice. Then with the pulp left over from juicing, I made two pints of cranberry sauce with some oranges I had on hand. 

Back on the sewing table, I cut out and finished another quilted jacket - this time for a friend. I think, maybe, in 2026 I will look for thrifted quilts and make some more jackets to sell at craft fairs. The person I just made the jacket for does craft fairs throughout the year in her area. So I would like to make some stuff and then give her a cut of the profits for selling them for me. 

In the meantime, I need to quilt up the quilts I am intending to gift at Christmas. We will see if I get them all done in time!